A Glimpse of the Lake District

September 21-25, 2009

This photo was taken at Fountains Abbey on September 22, 2009. Fountains Abbey is the largest abbey ruins in England. It was one of the abbeys that King Henry VIII commissioned to be stripped.

Although the abbey is focused in the center of the photo I was aesthetically drawn to take it because of the reflection the abbey has in the stream. The stream also gives us a serpentine line to follow leading towards the abbey. I also liked the way the trees on the sides framed the picture. The trees seem to be overpowering the abbey, which shows how nature could take over the abbey if no one kept up with the grounds. I wanted to take a full picture of the abbey, but I did not want to overwhelm the picture. By taking it further I feel as if I almost capture more of Fountains Abbey’s beauty.

I was drawn to the picture on the left because it shows the ruined state of Fountains Abbey. There is something in the way you can see the moss growing over the sides of the standing wall that makes this picture really show to devastated state of the abbey. The picture on the right drew me in spiritually because I am always touched when I see birds flying together. I also liked that with this picture you can see a portion of the top of the abbey, but that the sky and the birds are the focus.

This picture was taken on September 23, 2009 at Ambleside in the Lake District. Aesthetically I was drawn to this because I could see the rays from the sun coming through the cloud and hitting the water. The water and the mountains looked so beautiful to me I was glad I was able to capture this. The focus of my photo is the sail boat on the lake- this is area of the lake it was the only one sailing at the time. There was also something spiritual about seeing the sun rays and seeing the lone boat on the lake that drew me to grabbing my camera.

I wanted this picture to be the focus on the slide because of

how bright and dramatic the clouds are. The sky is so full of

light you are drawn in to look at it. The boats along the

water also provide a nice serpentine line across the lake. Again we can see the grandness of the sky by comparing it to the size of the sail boats. I was also spiritually drawn because of the beauty of the sky.

Aesthetically this picture works because there is not a 50/50 split in the land and lake. There is also the lone person sitting on the rocks looking out- with this person we can see the grandness of the lake and even the mountains around. I was drawn because of the person and because of the way the sun was reflecting of the water- I also liked the sail boats in the background just floating.

I chose these two pictures because they are focused on the same tree just in different ways. The picture on the left is a broad view of the area with the tree being almost the frame of the picture. On the right we see a close up of the same tree with the lake in the background. I took this picture sitting down so I could get a sense of looking up at the tree. Both of these work so well because they both show the

beauty of the Lake District.

These were also taken at the Lake District, but in a pasture right next to the lake. I was drawn to this because of the cows grazing around. Although it is a close up I wanted the picture on the left to be the focus because I found her so beautiful. The picture to the right works aesthetically with the lone cow and the mountains in the background. I loved the picture at the top because the sky looked so dramatic and so different from my lake pictures even though they were taken five minutes before.

September 24, 2009